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Apple's Amsterdam Store Evacuated After iPad Battery Explodes (9to5mac.com)
Slashdot readers radi0man and DeBaas report of an exploding iPad battery in Apple's Amsterdam store. DeBaas writes: An exploding iPad led to the Amsterdam Apple store being evacuated, as reported by 9to5mac and local news in dutch. The store reopened after the fire brigade ventilated the store. 9to5Mac notes that this is the third evacuation this year of an Apple store due to an exploding battery -- the other two were from iPhones. The iPad and its punctured battery were put in a container of sand after it exploded. No major injuries were reported, however, "three employees who experienced trouble breathing were treated by first responders," reports 9to5Mac.
Let the employees take the brunt of the explosion, that's what they're paid for.
I'm a little worried that an emergency container of sand appears to be standard equipment in an Apple store.
Right, and that is the responsibility of the charging logic, not the user. Notice that the article did not say "must be cut off by the user".
And no I hate Apple as much as the next guy but battery safety, especially when technology that's known to swell/explode/flame when mishandled is more important than a grudge. Please keep blame where it needs to reside.
Yes, lets. I there are issues with charge cut-off then the blame belongs with the charging logic. It's not like this is a $5 charger from Radio Shack, it has its own full blown computer. It's supposed to know how to do this right. Everybody knows that li-ion batteries can be dangerous. Gasoline is far more dangerous. How often does somebody blow themselves up pumping gas these days?
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Apple knows this and has built its charging circuits with this in mind. When you plug in a Mac or iOS device, it will charge until full, then charging stops. Then, as long as the device is plugged in, it runs on mains power. When the battery self-discharges to 95% (after a few days), charging starts again. This means the device can be left plugged in indefinitely.
This has been common knowledge among device makers for a decade or more. Every laptop uses a variation on this scheme (and has to, because lots of laptops live their life being plugged in 95% of the time).
If one in a million batteries catches fire per year that seems like a very rare, maybe acceptable risk.
- compared to the risk of _being_ killed by a firearm in the US of about 30 in a million persons per year*1
Apple sold > 200'000'000 iPhones in the last 4 quarters.(*2) So that would mean 200 exploding new iPhones per year.
The press would be all over it, so the real number and thus the risk must be waaaay lower.
Same goes for Samsung and the rest, of course. So move along, nothing to see here. But yes, it's funny that it happened in an Apple Store :)
*1 combining topics Apple and guncontrol, because fire is fun. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/ind...
*2 these numbers are impressive and kind of frightening. https://www.statista.com/stati...